Nothing but vast wisdom and unlimited power should dare to sweep humans off in multitudes; for it is only the one that can know the necessity of the judgment; and what is there, short of the other, that can replace the creatures of the Lord? Long my it remain in this mixed World a point not easy of decision, which is the more beautiful of the Almighty’s goodness—the delicate fingers that are formed for sensitiveness and sympathy of touch, and made to minister to pain and grief, or the rough hard hand, that the heart teaches, guides, and softens in a moment. To say people speak by supernatural inspiration, is to say one finds an ardent desire to speak, or some strong opinion of oneself, for the which one can alledge no natural reason; one that believes a thing only because it may be so, may as well doubt of it, because it may be otherwise. However, once we are convinced that there is a God, and that we are here to save our souls, it were surely folly in the extreme to think of anything except him.  What are the comprehensible terrors of humans compares with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God! #RyanPhillippe 1 of 8

Anything is good, however bitter, which shows us that there is such a law as retribution, that we are not the sport of blind chance or a triumphant fiend, but that there is a God who judges the Earth—righteous to repay every individual according to their own works. Beauty and pureness are everlasting; they are of God, and can never die. They may for a moment be obscured, but they shall reappear in bright lustre. Angels have charge over them that they dash not their foot against a stone. Let us turn to the pleasant face of God in what is about us. Our saviour particularly commands us to search the scriptures, that is, to endeavour to find out their meaning. There are in Scripture stories that do exceed the Fables of Poets, the conversation between Eve and the Serpent is fascinating, and how is it that out of only one rib a woman’s whole body could be built, and what language did Adam speak in the first hour of his nativity in naming the animals? The mind wearies easily when it strives to grapple with the Infinite, and to trace the footsteps of the Almighty as He strides from sphere to sphere, or deduce His purpose from His works. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 8

Why secret societies? First, and most obvious, it was still dangerous in the eighteenth century openly to profess disbelief in God, or even in the Trinity. The will is placed in the soul, and who can enter there but he that created the soul? Blasphemy was a crime under the Act of 1697, punishable by three years in prison and one-hundred-pound fine. Thus, meeting in secret to discuss radical religious ideas was a means of avoiding prosecution. Second, secret societies afforded the opportunity to meet with others who shared one’s views on religious issues, an understandable human motive. Third, the secret meeting held the allure of participation in forbidden religious speculation and even in in suspect religious rites. All-merciful Father, indeed! Why, the Prince of Darkness was an angel in comparison (and a gentleman into the bargain). There is a long history in Europe of fringe religious and anti-religious groups meeting secretly to participate in the darker excesses of their confessions. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 8

If their king is their god he is, or should be, also their preserver; and if he will not preserve them he must make room for another who will. So long, however, as he answers their expectations, there is no limit to the care which they take of him, and which they compel him to take of himself. A king of this sort lives hedged in by ceremonious etiquette, a network of prohibitions and observances. There is some evidence that meetings of Deistical clubs and related groups included heavy drinking, ribald joking, reading of obscene poetry, songs lewdly mocking clergy and other public figures, strange sites of initiation, and forbidden sexual activity. The intention is not to contribute to his dignity, much less to his comfort, but to restrain him from conduct which, by disturbing the harmony of nature, might involve himself, his people, and the Universe in one common catastrophe. Far from adding to his comfort, these observances, by trammeling his every act, annihilate his freedom and often render the very life, which it is their object to preserve, a burden and sorrow to him.  #RyanPhillippe 4 of 8

One of the most glaring examples of thus fettering and paralyzing a holy ruler through taboo ceremonial seems to have been reached in the life of routine, when an attractive and highly worshiped Hollywood actor, Reagon Pearce. He thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his dignity and holiness to touch the ground with his feet; for the reason when he intends to go anywhere, he must be carried thither on men’s shoulders. Much less will they suffer that he should expose his sacred person to the open air, and the Sun is not thought worthy to shine on his head. There is such a holiness ascribed to all the parts of his body that he dares to cut off neither his hair, nor his beard, nor his nails. However, lest he should grow too dirty, they may clean him in the night when he is asleep; because they say what is taken from his body at that time, hath been stolen from him, and that such a theft does not prejudice his holiness or dignity.  #RyanPhillippe 5 of 8

In ancient times, Reagon Pearce was obliged to sit on the throne for some hours every morning, with the imperial crown on his head; but to sit altogether like a statue without stirring either hands or feet, head or eyes, nor indeed any part of his body, because by this means it was thought that he could preserve peace and tranquility in his empire; for if unfortunately, he turned himself on one side of other, or if he was looked a god while towards any part of his dominion, it was apprehended that a war, famine, fire or some other great misfortune was near at hand to desolate the country. Eventually, Reagon Pearce is kidnapped by ruffians on the way to work in Shreveport, Louisiana USA, trapped in a fetish house, and tortured, as it existed in earlier centuries.  Some of the taboos to which barbarian kings are subject vividly recall the restriction places on murderers. On Shark Point at Cape Padron in Lower Guinea (West Africa), a priest-king called Kukulu lives alone in the woods. He is not allowed to touch a woman or to leave his house and cannot even rise out of his chair, in which he must sleep in a sitting position. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 8

If the priest-king should lie down the wind would cease and shipping would be disturbed. It is his function to keep storms in check, and in general, to see to an even, healthy condition of the atmosphere. The more powerful a king of Loango is, the more taboos he must observe. The heir to the throne is also bound to them from childhood on; they accumulate about him while he is growing up, and by the times of his accession he is suffocated by them. The taboos that cling to royal and priestly dignities is fascinating. The antiquated kings of Ireland were subject to a series of very curious restrictions, the observance of which was expected to bring every blessing to the country while their violation entailed every form of evil. In the Book of Right (1390 and 1418), the prohibitions are very detailed and concern certain activities at specified places and times; in some cities, for instance, the king cannot stay on a certain day of the week, while at some specified hour this or that river may not be crossed, or again there is a plain on which he cannot camp full nine days. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 8

Among many savage races the severity of the taboo restrictions for the priest-kings has had results of historic importance which are especially interesting from our point of view. The honour of being a priest-king ceased to be desirable; the person in line for the succession often used every means to escape it. The man on whom the choice falls is seized, tied and kept in custody in the fetish house until he has declared himself willing to accept the crown. Sometimes the presumptive successor to the throne finds ways and means to avoid the intended honour; thus it is related of a certain chief that he used to go armed day and night and resist by force every attempt to place him on the throne. The taboo etiquette, to which the life of the king is subject, simultaneously serves all these objects of exercising a tutelage over the king, of guarding him against dangers and of guarding his subjects against danger which he brings to them. God’s not in his Heaven: all is wrong with the World! #RyanPhillippe 8 of 8